Tool for hygiene and care of the cavities of the body

ABSTRACT

An instrument for hygiene and care of the body&#39;&#39;s cavities has a body with at least one padding at its end. The padding is made up of numerous flexible curved lamellae. A stick may be used to mount the body.

United States Patent Rossignol 1 Dec. 2, 1975 1 1 TOOL FOR HYGIENE AND CARE OF THE 2.701559 2/1955 Cooper 1, 128/2 B CAVITIES O THE BODY 2.767,?03 10/1956 128/2 B 3,540,432 ll/1970 128/2 8 [76] Inventor: Jacques Rosslgnol, 12. rue H. Durre, 13 4 9 1 n 3 3 3 59230 St. Amand les Eaux, France 3,724,463 4/1973 128/269 7 '7 Filed: Nov. 1974 3800.781 4/1974 Zalucki l 8/.. B

[21] Appl 520954 Primary E.\'aminerAldrich F. Medbery Att0rney,-Agent, 0r FirmCameron, Kerkam, Sutton, [30] Foreign Application Priority Data Stowell & Stowell Nov. 6, 1973 France 73.40377 52] US. Cl. 1. 128/269; 128/2 B; 128/2 w 1 1 ABSTRAQT [51] Int. C1. A61B 10/00; A61M 35/00 An mstrument for hyg1ene and care of the body 5 cavi- 7 [58] Field of Search 128/2 2 SI-H ties has a body with at least one padding at its end. The padding is made up of numerous flexible curved [56] References cued lamellae. A stick may be used to mount the body.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,514 665 7/1950 Myller 128/2 B 10 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures U.S. Patent Dec. 2, 1975 TOOL FOR HYGIENE AND CARE OF THE CAVITIES OF THE BODY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION- The invention relates to a tool for the care and sa'nitation of the cavities of the body and more specifically but not exclusively to a type of tool commonly called a swab, It is sometimes used to cleanse the mucosities of the nose but especially to extract ear wax.

Ear wax is secreted by the sebaceous glands of the skins external auditory duct which allows this duct to be lubricated and prevents dust and small solid bodies from getting in. Unfortunately, if this substance accumulates it can cause ear singing and some deafness.

At first, ear swabs were used to extract the cerumen, but as these little instruments were made of horn, bone or ivory they could damage the ear duct.

Therefore, they were quickly replaced by a flexible swab fitted with cotton on at least one of its ends. This provided a cushion which prevented wounding the ear duct, while it furthermore enabled it to absorb some of the substance to be extracted. Unfortunately, the absorption capabilities of this heavy and thick padding are small. Further, while the swab stick is being inserted, it is inconvenient and awkward as it packs down a sizeable amount of the cerumen at the bottom of the auditory duct which could bring about the troubles previously mentioned.

A result provided by the present invention is that a tool of this nature will not push down the substance to be extracted to the bottom of the cavity, while allowing a sizeable amount of this substance to be removed.

To this end, the invention provides a tool such as the one aforementioned, however, deferring in that the padding (cotten) absorbing part which is made up of several flexible laminations.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A swab for use in body cavities has a body mounted on a stick. The body is a body of revolution around the axis of the stick with a hemispherical top and a truncated cone base. Padding covers or forms the body and is a plurality of spaced flexible laminations fixed to the body. The laminations may have a slight helical curvature in the same direction about the body around the axis of the stick.

REFERENCE TO THE APPENDED DRAWINGS The invention will with reference to a preferred embodiment now be described as a non-restrictive example, as shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a face view of the instrument; and

FIG. 2 is a sectional view on the line [I II of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Following the swab stick example, the tool according to the invention as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is comprised of a stick 1, with at least one padding at its end which has a shape circumscribed by a revolving area around axis 3 of stick 1, having a hemispherical portion 4 with a diameter D, connected to a major base area in the shape of a truncated cone 5.

According to the inventions main characteristic, the padding 2 is made up of several flexible laminations 6,

which are connected to the stick 1 by one of their edges Preferably, the laniinations 6 presents a slight helical curvature about the body around the axis of the stick instead of being on a plane and are radially set, at least locally. As the laminations 6 area curvedin the same way, when the padding is inserted in the ear duct, it will create, accordingto the direction of rotation of the stick 1 variations ,of diameter D. This, on the one hand, can be decreased for an opposite rotation to the direction of arrow F, in order to facilitate insertion of the padded area, for example, or it can be increased by rotation in the direction of arrow F in order to accentuate the pressure on the ducts wall by the external range of laminations 6. In order to improve the drawing of the substance to be extracted from the wall of the duct, it is useful to turn down the tips 8 of the laminations, in a rounded fashion or at an angle as at 9, against the adjacent area of the body, placing these extremities substantially tangent to said wall and thus to the area cir cumscribing the shape of the padding 2.

In order not to limit the amount of substance to be extracted by this instrument, to the specific space volume 10 between the laminations 6, laminations are set helically (FIG. 4) in such a manner that they will move the product to be extracted toward the outside of the duct.

The set of laminations 6 can be molded into one piece with the stick 1, or with a cylinder liner 11 which will cover the tip of a separate stick.

The padding 2 will be advantageously manufactured in rubber or plastic.

This tool will be very useful in taking cerumen out of the auditory duct.

The flexible laminations 6 in fact, do not run the risk of injuring the wall of the duct; the cerumen will not be packed down at the bottom of the duct as it enters the laminations 6; there is no limit to the quantity of cerumen that can be extracted in one operation; and it can be used in duets with very different diameters.

Moreover, this instrument is not limited to the extraction of harmful substances, it can also be used for the deposit of pasty or liquid substances in great quantities, which will have been previously inserted between the laminations. If the padding is dipped in a container for example, deposit can be made by rotating the padding in the opposite direction to arrow F, causing a decrease in volume between the laminations, and thus the removal of the substance from the padding which will evenly apply itself on the wall of the duct.

What I claim is:

1. An instrument for hygiene and care of cavities of the human body comprising a body portion, a stick for said body portion, padding on at least one end of said stick forming said body portion, said padding having a circumscribed shape of a body of revolution around the long axis of said stick, one end of said padding being a hemispherical cap and the other end of said padding being a base in the shape of an inverted truncated cone merging into said cap, and said padding being a plurality of normally contiguous flexible radial laminations around and extending from the axis of said stick forming said cap and said truncated cone into said body portion.

2. An instrument in accordance with claim 1, said flexible laminations being connected to said stick along one of their edges.

3. An instrument in accordance with claim 2, all of said laminations having a slight helical curvature in the same direction forming the body around the axis of the stick.

4. An instrument in accordance with claim I, the tips of said laminations being bent on the end opposite to the extremities of said laminations that are connected to said stick towards an area defining the shape of said padding.

5. An instrument in accordance with claim 4, said bent tips contacting the adjacent one of said laminations in a rounded shape.

6. An instrument in accordance with claim 1, said a monoblock with said cylinder liner. 

1. An instrument for hygiene and care of cavities of the human body comprising a body portion, a stick for said body portion, padding on at least one end of said stick forming said body portion, said padding having a circumscribed shape of a body of revolution around the long axis of said stick, one end of said padding being a hemispherical cap and the other end of said padding being a base in the shape of an inverted truncated cone merging into said cap, and said padding being a plurality of normally contiguous flexible radial laminations around and extending from the axis of said stick forming said cap and said truncated cone into said body portion.
 2. An instrument in accordance with claim 1, said flexible laminations being connected to said stick along one of their edges.
 3. An instrument in accordance with claim 2, all of said laminations having a slight helical curvature in the same direction forming the body around the axis of the stick.
 4. An instrument in accordance with claim 1, the tips of said laminations being bent on the end opposite to the extremities of said laminations that are connected to said stick towards an area defining the shape of said padding.
 5. An instrument in accordance with claim 4, said bent tips contacting the adjacent one of said laminations in a rounded shape.
 6. An instrument in accordance with claim 1, said laminations being helically disposed around the axis of said stick.
 7. An instrument in accordance with claim 1, said laminations being rubber.
 8. An instrument in accordance with claim 1, said laminations being plastic.
 9. An instrument in accordance with claim 1, the padding forming a monoblock with said stick.
 10. An instrument in accordance with claim 1 including a cylinder liner on said stick, the padding forming a monoblock with said cylinder liner. 